#BookReview – ‘Bohemian Rhapsody-The Definitive Biography of Freddie Mercury’ by Lesley-Ann Jones

My lovely husband bought this for me for Christmas, as I am big Queen fan, but didn’t really have an indepth book on the life of iconic pop and rock star, Freddie Mercury.

We have lots of photo books, such as ‘The Great Pretender’, but this is described as definitive, with unparallel access granted to the author so I was very intrigued to read this !

‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is written by a journalist and broadcaster who is a specialist in music and media and who spent time with Freddie, as well travelling on the road with Queen.

What Lesly-Ann Jones does is more than bring a fresh perspective to a figure that everyone feels as if they know ,she shines a light into the world of music journalism in the hey day of the 80’s and 90’s. I found this absolutely fascinating, because the advent of the internet paradoxically brings celebrities closer than ever before, whilst control of their image has never been more manufactured and closely guarded.

Starting in Montreux, going onto the well documented Live Aid performance , and then doubling back to Freddie’s early years with meticulous research and supporting evidence, this is a biography and social history . The text is interspersed with intimate images, of which many won’t have been seen eslewhere.

The quotes and anecdotes come not just from expected sources such as Queen members, and fellow artists at the time, the only thing I would say I found that I didn’t enjoy-not that I was looking for anything or is something that this author does, it happens a lot– is the mythologising of Bob Geldof and his contribution to Live Aid.

Multiple sources have revealed it was actually the brainchild of Paula Yates yet she is rarely, if ever, credited with this, but that is a personal bugbear.I roll my eyes every time his name is mentioned because he is a self aggrandising manchild in my humble opinion (sits back and waits for brickbats to land…hey it’s my blog and I just don’t like him).

‘Do you know,that’s exactly the thing that keeps me awake at night,’ he mused.’I’ve created a monster.The monster is me.I can’t blame anyone else.It’s what I’ve worked for since I was a kid .I would have killed for this.Whatever happens to me is all my fault .It’s what I wanted.It’s what we all strive for .Success,money,fame,sex,drugs-whatever you want .I can have it.But now I’m beginning to see that as much as I created it,I want to escape from it.I’m starting to worry that I can’t control it, as much as it controls me.’

Anyway..swiftly moving on , detail and historical background is rarely touched on when talking about Freddie in tv documentaries or books so I personally found it fascinating and very sad when she talks about visiting Zanzibar and eloquently describes it as the ‘anti-Graceland’. Not a trace of Freddie is to be found , it’s as if he is written out of the history books, a value judgement based on his lifestyle -which still makes me outrageously angry whenever I read about laws which effectively prohibit people being in love. OUTRAGED! However, as the book goes on to illustrate, there are memorials and statues around the world which honour not only his musical legacy, but also his contribution to fighting prejudice.

Lesley-Ann Jones manages to weave a tale that almost seems fictional, I found myself completely lost in her words as she deftly juggles the focus of the biography-Freddie-whilst contextualising him in popular culture AND tracking the specatacular rises and falls, and rises again, of Queen. It could have been a very hard to follow read, or a very dry one but what I loved was that as well as the author’s own voice, Freddie’s rang through loud and clear.She returns him to us with some mysteries intact and without invading his privacy by laying him bare. She gives us, the fans of Queen and of Freddie, more reasons to love him.

This book is absolutely a work of heart.

Twitter Links-@LAJwriter

@HodderBooks

@QueenWillRock

@FreddieForADay

http://www.mercuryphoenixtrust.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkFHYODzRTs